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Civil Society Champions is an annual award ceremony launched by the Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs in 2009. It is called to honor the most prominent civil activists, significant events and organizations in the Belarusian civil sector. The first ceremony took place on 23 December 2009 in Minsk. [1]
The main goals of the Civil Society Champions award ceremony are:
The long-list of nominees is formed by the Executive Bureau and the Working Group of the Assembly. After that, the Board forms a short-list of nominees and the voting process begins. Civil activists, NGO leaders and experts vote for a candidate and the Executive Bureau members process the voting results.
On December 23, 2009, an informal ceremony of awarding the most outstanding community initiatives and civil campaigns took place for the first time. [2]
Reference [7]
The prize in the nomination Campaign of the Year was awarded to “Let’s Make It Better!”-2013 campaign held by the Assembly of NGOs. [8]
The prize in the nomination New Initiative went to Kaciaryna Kibalchych who launched Belarusian language courses “Mova ci cava”.
The prize in the nomination Regional Event of the Year was awarded to the people's strikes against the mass killings of domestic pigs. The award was received by one of the Mahilou region activists, Kaciaryna Muzykantava.
The prize in the nomination Place of the Year was awarded to the creative platform “CEH” and was received by one of its founders, photographer Julia Daraskevich.
There were two winners in the nomination Creative Input of the Year: PRacounia of social advertising and a personal initiative to establish a private monument commemorating Kalinouski rebels.
The prize in the nomination Screw Up of the Year went to the authorities who fined the organizers of the bike ride “Mods on Bikes”.
The award in the category Media/Journalist of the Year was received by the Internet TV TUT.BY. Statuette and diploma were given to the TUT.BY TV editor Alena Andrejeva.
The prize in the nomination Best NGO Website of the Year was awarded to the Viasna Human Rights Centre.
The prize in the nomination Civil Leader of the Year was awarded to Siarhei Mikhalok (music band “Liapis Trubiackoj”). The prize was received by the band's press secretary Dzmitry Bezkaravajny. [9]
On 13 January, the Sixth “Civil Society Champions” Award Ceremony took place in Minsk. The Assembly of NGOs marked the most notable and important events and activities that have happened in the Belarusian civil sector in 2014. The Jury consisted of 100 persons, including civil activists, former Award winners and journalists. [10]
On January 15 the Assembly arranged the 7th “Civil Society Champions” Award Ceremony to estimate leaders and the most significant events of the last year in the third sector.
On 23 December, Minsk hosted the eighth Civil Society Champions award ceremony. Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs marked the most outstanding and interesting events in the public sector for the current year.
On 21 December, Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs held the ninth Civil Society Champions award ceremony to praise outstanding persons and mark the most interesting events that took place in the Belarusian civil society sector in 2017.
On January 10, 2018, at the “Korpus” cultural space in Minsk Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs held the 10th Civil Society Champions award ceremony to praise outstanding activists and mark the most interesting civil society events of 2018.The short list contained 57 nominees and the jury united 112 civil society leaders, experts and journalists from all over Belarus.
An award ceremony for winners of “Champions of Civil Society-2019” event took place in Minsk club “Brugge” on January, 9. Assembly of NGOs has noted personas and important events of civil sector for the eleventh time. This time the jury consisted of a record number of civic leaders, experts, journalists and winners of previous events – for a total of 150 people.
The most fierce competition unfolded in the category Community Leader / Public Leader of the Year. The first place was shared by Svetlana Gatalskaya of the “March, baby!”, movement which promotes the adoption of the law on combating domestic violence, and Elena Maslyukova, leader of the initiative against the plant for the production of bleached cellulose in Svetlogorsk.
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